Acting Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruță stated that a Russian drone spent four minutes in Romanian airspace, and that despite the military's readiness to shoot it down, the move was considered too risky, UNN reports.
Yes, it was a Geran 2 drone. Yes, it was detected and tracked on a recently installed radar in the Galați area following an incident two weeks ago. Yes, the fighter jets had authorization to fire. Yes, during the 4 minutes it was in Romanian airspace, it could not be fired upon without causing greater damage to the municipality of Galați, or in a way that the projectile would not reach territory outside Romania and be considered interference in the war in Ukraine, potentially making Romania a party to the conflict
The head of the Romanian Ministry of Defense emphasized: "Yes, we need more ground-based air defense systems, which we do not have because since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the person who makes this decision has not made it."
"We are in constant contact and are already working on additional measures to strengthen security on the eastern flank. Some of these measures will be announced in the coming hours," the head of the Romanian defense department indicated.